Fishermen ready for shrimp season with 600 trawlers

JEDDAH: Fishermen in the Eastern Province are ready with 600 boats for the shrimp-hunting season, which will begin on Saturday and continue till end-February. During the first week, they will focus on nearby locations and later venture into deep waters for the catch, local media has reported.

The boats will proceed from the ports of the Eastern Province, Dammam, Qatif, Sihat, Darren and Jubail toward the shrimp fishery in the Gulf waters, catching the much sought-after marine food and return to sell it in local markets.
The first weeks of hunting will concentrate on locations such as Minfa and Khafji, while the small boats will hunt in nearby fisheries in Dammam and Alkhobar.
Hunting shrimps in the northern area of Bahrain bridges is prohibited during the first two months of the season.
The majority of fishermen started preparing for the season by the end of last week. Their preparations are according to the intended operations, the size of the boat, and the usability and functionality of the fishing gears that were used during the previous season.
Meanwhile, many fishermen seek to complete their paperwork and get the license hunt for shrimps from the Ministry of Agriculture. The fish license is frozen during the shrimp season.
“The shrimp season is regarded as one of the best fishing seasons to make money and pay the instalments incurred on the majority of fishermen, which are about SR60,000 per year,” said some fishermen.
The last season was lean compared to the previous one. The first round of hunting was shocking as catch was 40 to 50 percent less.
The fishermen said a box of shrimp weighting 30 kg of small shrimps is priced at SR400-500, medium-sized SR600-800 and the big ones over SR1100 per box.
Issa Al-Swaiti, a fisherman, was quoted as saying that preparing one boat for the shrimp season costs SR20,000 to 25,000. “The new boats will need a crane costing SR9,000, machine SR11,000 to 15,000, wheels to pull the ropes SR250 to 550 for one unit of ropes, networks SR360 to 380 and bags for spinning SR475 riyals.”
Nets need to be replaced on a monthly basis as they get torn because of the pulling and casting at the rocky bottom of the sea.